Been a very long time since I posted here on FM, and my first post here on the alternative board...

I shoot digital for work in my studio day in day out, but I have a serious love for film that just will not die... I pull out my hassy or Crown Graphic or one of my other film cameras whenever I get the chance on a job, but especially for my personal stuff and family pics... I have an old polaroid 195 folding rangefinder, and trust me, the kids love it, pics in 30 seconds and straight to the fridge door

Anyhow, enough of the rambling intro..... I have been loooking for a small pocketable film camera with some manual control for a while, Ricoh Gr series of course comes to mind (why I didnt buy one when they were available I just dont know... doh!) but the prices they go for used are just not worth the "risk" but I came across this little beauty, Only available in Japan adn in 8000 examples.

The fujifilm Klasse W is the wideangle brother to the Fuji Klasse S... 28mm fujinon lens (can you say sharp?)
It runs in full auto or aperture priority but with manual over or under exposure control of two full stops over or under... Nice analogue controls and a solid feel. It oozes quality in my opinion.
DX coding, but again manual overide to set ISO as you see fit.
The manual is in japanese... but I managed to suss out how to use it pretty quick
Anyhow here are some pics...
First together with the fuji GA 645i and the GW690II for a sense of scale...

Beautiful little camera. I really don't think Fuji gets enough love; they have really created some outstanding gear over the years. I have a GA645 sitting right here and the lens on that thing is unbelievably sharp, not to mention the excellent and highly accurate AF and metering.

I was intrigued by this camera when it first came out. I remember the ads in the Japanese camera magazines. If film was still somewhat competitive I probably would have bought one. Now, I just have too many film cameras, including a 28mm compact (Ricoh GR1s), and an outstanding 28mm lens on the Contax G2 so this would be redundant, and it was a little pricey for to have yet another in this range.

I agree sentiment of the faked digital version of this camera. It would very interesting model for a m4/3 or large sensor compact. Fuji should seriously consider it -- even if just for the Japanese market (I can still get one) as that market might be a bit more receptive to such a design.

Spyro P. wrote:
Expensive but nice, enjoy
Does it offer any other way of focusing apart from AF?
Expensive is relative... the Krone wa string when I got mine so the exchange rate here in Norway at the moment helps.
There is manual overide of the autofucus. You can lock the autofocus at a point by pressing the afl button, or you can use manual focus by pressing a button and then turning the thumbwheel until the desired distance is shown on the lcd... great for shots from the hip....

Nathan67 wrote:
You can lock the autofocus at a point by pressing the afl button, or you can use manual focus by pressing a button and then turning the thumbwheel until the desired distance is shown on the lcd... great for shots from the hip....

Ahhh same system as the Hexar AF and the GA645 (which I have too), it works well
It would probably work even better with the Klasse's 28mm lens, just set it to 2.5-3m permanently and off you go for some street. The shutter should be near silent yeah? Also, what is the highest you can set the ISO? Any chance of using filters?

Spyro P. wrote:
Ahhh same system as the Hexar AF and the GA645 (which I have too), it works well
It would probably work even better with the Klasse's 28mm lens, just set it to 2.5-3m permanently and off you go for some street. The shutter should be near silent yeah? Also, what is the highest you can set the ISO? Any chance of using filters?

Too many questions sorry...
Hi Spyro, no not too many questions

The shutter is pretty quiet, but the film advance does make a little noise, but in a street situation I dont think anyone would notice...
The flash can be turned off, set to anti red eye or slow sync with a couple of presses of a button.. would be better with a manual switch, but really its not a deal breaker imo.

The ISO can be set manually from 25 to 3200 or you can let the camera read the DX coding.

Filters... doesnt seem like they thought of filters with this camera, but I bought the little hood and I suppose that if you were clever you could rig up some kind of push fit adapter to the hood or something like that.... or maybe even place a gel cut to size between the lens and the hood... other than that just hold a filter in front of the lens...

Spyro P. wrote:
Τhanks for all your help Nathan, the cam is a serious candidate

You are welcome

I dont think you will be disappointed.... I have managed to get hold of a nice Ricoh GR1s as well so when it arrives I might just have to do a little head to head testing..... just couldnt help my self

My one complaint about the camera is that it does not indicate what shutter speed is being used so there is not much to suggest if a larger aperture might be required in some situation; I ended up going with one of the GR for that reason. GR is a nice camera; though I rather have a 35mm lens than a 28mm lens.

you2 wrote:
My one complaint about the camera is that it does not indicate what shutter speed is being used so there is not much to suggest if a larger aperture might be required in some situation; I ended up going with one of the GR for that reason. GR is a nice camera; though I rather have a 35mm lens than a 28mm lens.

It does show the shutter speed in the viewfinder....

In aperture priority the shutter speed is shown in the viewfinder.
In program mode the aperture is shown on the top plate LCD and the shutter speed is shown in the viewfinder.